


Auradon's Anguish

by Jman1000000000



Series: Revenge From the West Series [3]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2019-10-20 13:09:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17622971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jman1000000000/pseuds/Jman1000000000
Summary: Uma, the daughter of Ursula, and Carver, the son of The Witch, have joined forces to change the future of Auradon for good. Sequel to The Isle's Retribution.





	1. Chapter 1

**At The Lake**

Uma heard footsteps behind her. She instantly whirled around, raising her arms. Following the motion of her arms, two tentacles of water raised from the lake, ready to strike.

"Whoa." The person behind her-a boy around her age with pale skin, short brown hair and golden eyes-said, raising his hands yieldingly. "I'm not looking for any trouble."

 _Great, now I have to wipe his memory_. Uma thought.

"You don't have to wipe my mind, I won't tell anyone about you."

Uma clenched her hands into fists, ready to command the tentacles to attack.

"Before you drown me or whatever, don't you want to hear what I have to say? I think we could help each other."

Uma lowered her arms and the water lost its shape. "This better be good." She said.

"Let's start with an introduction." The boy said, smiling in a practiced yet charming way. He gave a playful bow. "My name's Carver. What's yours?"

"Uma. Now what was this about you being able to help me?"

"I suspect you have plans to bring down the barrier around the Isle. Wouldn't that be a lot easier if you had someone inside Auradon Prep to give you information.

Uma had been avoiding eye contact by looking at her nails this whole time-a surefire way to make someone desperate to earn your attention-but now she looked him directly in the eyes. "Consider me interested. Let's talk."

"Well, I can get you into Auradon Prep-in disguise, of course-and I've got a pretty solid plan to take down the barrier...and break Mal's heart."

Uma perked up hearing that last part. "Well, please, don't keep me waiting."

"Ever hear of Queen Sif?" Carver asked with a smirk.

* * *

**Next Month**

One of King Ben's favorite school events was the annual Welcome Ball. The student council threw the reception every year for any new freshman or transfer students. Ben had promised Audrey and Jane that he would greet all the new students. But, after two hours, his face hurt from smiling and he'd shaken so many hands his fingers felt like they were going to fall off. It was always a pleasure meeting people, but it would've been nice to have a break. But, for now, he'd greeted little more than half of the incoming students.

He turned to welcome the next person in the line before him and his jaw almost dropped. The girl in front of him looked remarkable. She was tall and thin with chestnut-colored skin, long and shiny gold hair tied in braids, dark brown eyes. She wore an extremely elaborate white dress with gold embellishments. Actually, he noticed she wore a lot of gold (it was braided into her hair, she had gold bracelets, rings, cuffs on her upper arms and a necklace with a pendant shaped like a star).

"Hello, Your Majesty," She said softly, curtsying before continuing to say, "it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Please, call me Ben." Ben said, composing himself. "And you are?"

"I'm Amelia, Princess of Aurelia, but you can call me Millie." Millie said.

 _That explains the gold_. Ben thought. Hearing the name instantly brought up memories of his father explaining the history of each of Auradon's kingdoms when he was younger. Aurelia's farms produced almost all of Auradon's produce, livestock and timber. And Queen Sif's ordeal with Rumpelstiltskin had left the entire kingdom with a mountain of gold in their vault, More, in fact, than any other territory in the nation.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Millie. Are you looking forward to studying here?"

"Of course. I spent most of my life castleschooled, so it's kind of exciting to be in a real school. Even though it may be a bit more challenging to win Prom Queen when my brother isn't my only competition."

"Yes, it may be." Ben laughed. "I hope you enjoy your school year. Auradon Prep is..."-He sighed appreciatively-"there's no place like it."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." She curtsied gracefully again. "I'll see you around." She said before descending the staircase that led to the main area of the party.

Ben didn't even notice he was staring until she turned around to look at him and smiled at him.

* * *

**At the Ball**

Mal was waiting for Ben to finish greeting the line of people in front of him, but it was obvious that he'd be occupied for at least another hour. But she didn't know what else to do considering all her friends were busy at the moment. Evie was doing a last minute fix for someone that ripped their dress. The last time Mal saw Carlos, he was going to the projection room above the auditorium to find the slideshow Jane had prepared for the end of the night. And if Mal knew Jay, he'd be dancing in the most visible part of the room. Freddie, Jordan, Allie and Lonnie were spending the night with their dates. She'd tried to help Jane and Audrey supervise to pass the time, but apparently the future queen wasn't supposed to do that kind of work. She'd even considered talking to Reggie, but he'd passed on the party in favor of pursuing his goal of watching every classic movie Auradon had to offer. Her phone was out of life already and her plans to find a charger were interrupted when she heard someone sitting down next to her.

"May I have a moment of your time? It's urgent." They said. She looked up and saw a tall boy about her age that had long gold hair, dark brown skin and dark brown eyes. He was wearing a white tuxedo with ornate gold embellishments on its trim.

"Yes, go on." Mal said. Then she remembered to smile. Even if randomly talking to strangers wasn't normal for her, in Auradon it was like a practiced ritual.

"I'm a thief. And I'm here to steal your heart." He said with a smirk.

"Wow, did you really think that would work?" Mal asked. "I'm kind of in a serious relationship right now, but, even if I wasn't, that line wouldn't do anything but make me laugh."

"I know. You're with him, right?" Mal followed his eyes to Ben, greeting a girl wearing a white and gold dress.

"Yes, I am." Mal said, a small smile lighting up her face when she looked at him. Then she turned back to the guy in front of her with a scowl. "You knew about me being in a relationship, but you still came over here with a pick-up line? Were you trying to be funny or are you just plain crazy?"

"More the former. I saw that you were alone over here and looking bored, so I thought I'd come over here and make you laugh."

"By flirting with me? How chivalrous."

"By using such a corny line."

"Oh, obviously." Mal said. "Because most normal people would just come over here and tell a joke."

"I'm not most people. And I'm certainly not normal."

"Now you're really about to make me laugh." Mal said with a smirk. "So, Mr. Not Normal, are you always so-"

"Bold? Confident? Good looking?"

"None of the above, actually. I was gonna say...-" She had to pause to find a nice way to say it  _"-eccentric._ "

"Sorry. I don't usually think before I speak. Not a good quirk to have around here. Gets you in trouble sometimes." He said as he looked around the room.

"Trust me, I can totally relate." Mal said. "Sometimes, when I'm at places like this, I just wanna turn invisible so that I don't have to constantly watch every little thing I say."

"Right? There are literally entire books about the etiquette in all the kingdoms. What for? Did you know that waving hi to somebody is an insult in DunBroch."

"Yeah. I learned first hand, actually. I waved at the crowd when me and Ben's carriage got there. It was so horrible, no matter how many times I apologize, I still feel bad."

He started laughing uncontrollably for a few seconds until he was finally able to compose himself. "I'm so sorry, but that's just too funny."

Mal hit him lightly on the arm and said, "Don't laugh, it was a disaster."

"But you have to admit, in hindsight, it's kinda funny."

Mal smiled a little as she said, "Yeah, a little bit."

"Don't worry, I'm not one to judge. I've got plenty of stories where I said or did the wrong thing."

"You  _so_  have to tell me one."

"Fine, I guess it's only fair considering you already shared one. So, one time in New Orleans, I..."

**An Hour Later**

Mal hadn't even realized how long she and Mr. Not Normal had been talking until his phone buzzed. He looked at the screen and the grin fell from his face. "I gotta go, my sister needs me."

Looking up at the staircase, Mal saw that Ben had finally finished greeting everyone in line. "No problem." She said.

"It was nice talking to you. Excuse me if I don't wave goodbye, though." He said as he stood up.

"Not funny." Mal said, though the way her face lit up said otherwise. As he turned to leave, Mal said, "Wait. I didn't get your name."

"Mason." He said.

"I'll see you around, Mason." Mal said.

"See you around." Mason replied, before turning away.

* * *

**In the Dorms**

When he knocked on the door, it was opened quickly. Millie stepped aside to let him into their room. A private suite with two bedrooms, the kind reserved for the most privileged students at the school.

"Hey, Millie." He said.

"Hey,  _Mason."_  She replied, looking around the room after she closed the door. "How'd you get such a nice dorm?"

"We  _are_  supposed to be the two richest students at school. And, if we had roommates, how would we ever have to time to cast spells in private?"

"True. Now, do you mind turning me back? I hate feeling this tall, it feels like I'm gonna hit my head all the time."

"Not at all." His eyes glowed gold and Millie's hair turned from black to aquamarine, her height decreased and her facial structure shifted. At the same time, Mason's hair turned white, his eyes stayed gold but stopped glowing, his muscles disappeared and he got paler and paler.

"Thank goodness." Uma said, stretching her arms as the illusion faded. "I'm finally me again."

"For the night, at least." Carver said.

"Don't remind me." She said. Then her demeanor changed. She went from carefree to captain in a second. "So, were you successful tonight?"

"I think so."

"Think?"

"I said all the right things, which isn't a surprise given my particular skillset. Mal seemed to look forward to seeing me again."

"Good. It doesn't surprise me. She always trusted people just a little too much."

"And you? How did things go with the king?"

"Perfectly. And, judging from the look on his face when he saw me, I think I made a pretty good impression."

"And with the girls?"

"Good, considering  _we're totally going shopping together on Saturday_." She said, flipping her hair and imitating Audrey's valleygirl-ish way of speaking for the last part. "Trust me, soon we'll  _totally be BFFs_.

"Perfect." Carver said. "Soon we'll be able to shake the entire nation."


	2. Chapter 2

**The Next Day**

"Uh oh," Uma said as she bumped into Ben. It was hard making it look like it was unintentional considering, when disguised as Millie, she was thinner than most models.

_Seemed_. She reminded herself. Carver had reminded her many, many times that she hadn't magically turned into Millie. The knowledge required for that magic was much too advanced for either of them. But Carver was skilled enough to cast and maintain an illusion that fooled all five senses of anyone who looked at them. The feeling of looking into a mirror and knowing that her mind was playing tricks on her was almost as odd as it was smiling to Ben's face as he bent down and picked up her books for her, chivalrous as usual.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Uma said, flashing a smile as she stepped aside to avoid all the students coming out of the door behind her. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"It's no problem," Ben said, looking behind Uma at the classroom doors. "I'm guessing class is over."

"Yeah, it just finished," Uma said. "We didn't learn anything today. But the teacher told us we'd have to do a huge project at the end of the semester about the significance and culture of the kingdoms where we were born. It has something to do with how our own history is just as important as Auradon's. I have an extra copy of the rubric if you need it."

"Could I have it please?"

"Of course. Are you okay today? I hope you don't mind me saying this, but you look a little...tired." He had bags under her eyes and he'd missed a class. That was how Uma knew it was time to bump into him.

"I'm fine, there's just been a lot of work recently."

"I hope everything's alright, Your Majesty."

"Yes, yes, everything's...fine."

The fact that he couldn't even look her in her eyes when he said it was all the proof Uma needed to know he was a horrible liar. She put a worried look on her face as she said, "Oh no, is something wrong?"

"No, everything really is fine. There were...reports of danger in a few kingdoms, but they were only false alarms."

She pretended to be confused when she said, "False alarms?"

"Yes," Ben said. "There were bad thunderstorms in Hawaii, a mudslide in China a whirlpool in Atlantica. They all struck during the same night and all of them suddenly stopped the next morning. The only thing that's still a problem is the eels that got into the Mermaid's Grotto in Neverland."

_What about the flood in Corona_? Uma thought.  _I spend two hours raising water and they don't even notice it._

"Anyway, everything is being taken care of. It just took a while for me to sort things out, so I accidentally overslept today."

"I'm glad everything's okay. I never realized how much work being king is."

"It is, but there's nothing I can imagine that's more rewarding."

"Well, if there's ever anything I can do to help you, I'm always available. Even if you need someone to bring you your schoolwork or any help catching up."

"Thank you, Millie. I think I'll end up taking you up on that offer."

"No problem, it's-." The bell rang right in the middle of her sentence. "Well, I'd better get going before I'm late. See you later."

"Later," Ben said, waving at her with a smile as she left.

* * *

**Later That Day**

Carver was wearing Mason's face again as he closed his locker. When the door was swung shut, Mal was revealed to be behind it.

"Hey," Mal said.

Mason waved at her with a smirk.

"Jerk," Mal said, rolling her eyes. "So, how're you enjoying regular school recently?"

"The whole waking up early every morning part isn't my thing, but I don't have any other complaints."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"You have trouble waking up early, too, Ms. Soon-To-Be-Queen?"

"Not really common to be a morning person where I'm from. And where'd you hear I was gonna be queen?"

"You do know you're the talk of the school, right? No matter where I go, I can't help but hear about...you know."

"No, I don't know. What do you hear about?"

"Every aspect of your life, pretty much. It...I don't know, it just seems rough not being able to have any privacy and space to just...live, you know? Exist."

"Eh, you get used to it," Mal said _._ The nonchalance of her tone and the shrug that accompanied the words even made it pretty convincing. But hiding things from Carver wasn't really an easy thing to do. He imagined that his mind was a fishing rod, casting a metaphorical line out into Mal's thoughts and pulling the biggest one back.

When the thought reached him, Mal's voice echoed in his head,  _I just wish I could talk to someone about it without making them worry about me._

_Interesting_. Carver thought, his mind working quickly as he schooled a warm expression on his face. "Not to get all mushy and everything, but if you ever want to talk to someone about anything...I'm a great listener."

"Uh. Thanks. I think I might take you up on that sometime."

"Cool," Carver said. He was about to say something, but the bell rang. "Guess I'll see you around."

"Bye," Mal said. She didn't know why, but she found herself watching him go until he disappeared around a corner in the hall.

* * *

**In The Math Classroom**

It was very, very late at night when Uma finally arrived outside the classroom. She'd been held up for ten minutes after almost getting caught by the janitor. It was still hard getting used to Millie's height and not tripping on her long legs. Or the illusion of her long legs, at least. But, after waiting for him to finish his cleaning, she didn't find any other interruptions. She tried the door, but it was locked-as she'd guessed it would be. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the ring with the purple seashell gem before putting it on her finger. It was too noticeable to wear around while in disguise, but too important not to keep close by.

"No need for me to knock, this door will unlock," Uma said, the ring glowing purple as she heard the lock click. She entered the room, closing the door behind her and making her way to the desk. Yesterday their teacher had told them there would be an important quiz today and after all of the problems she'd created for Ben she doubted he'd had time to study for it. But, just to be safe, she had to make sure he failed it. After finding Ben's test, she held her hands over it, the ring glowing as she began her spell. "His responsibilities and duties the prince will lament, since he'll score no more than ten percent." The ink from Ben's pen lifted from the page into the air before falling back down on the wrong answers. Uma heard her phone buzz and opened it to see a message.

_"Mason": What's taking so long? Do you need help?_

_Not at all. First step complete_. She replied.


	3. Chapter 3

**In The School Hallway**

For some reason Mal couldn't explain, she needed to get something from her locker. It was weird, but she just had the nagging feeling that she'd forgotten something despite not knowing what exactly it was she lost that kept getting worse and worse the closer she got to her locker. That nagging feeling stopped when she heard something fall behind her, followed by someone saying "no, no, no, no, no." She turned around and saw Mason rushing down a staircase to pick up a phone that had dropped all the way from the top. When he picked it up, he saw that it was completely broken, with shards of metal and glass on the ground where it fell. Mal was going to turn back in the direction of her locker, but she stopped when she saw Mason's eyes begin glowing gold.

"Having a broken phone isn't what I'd recommend, so it's time for this device to mend," Mason said. The phone and all its broken pieces rose into the air, combining together as it magically repaired itself. After it was completely fixed, it lowered back into Mason's hand.

Mal couldn't hide the gasp she released. "You're...you're a..."

Mason's head jerked to Mal and his eyes widened. He accidentally relaxed his hand and his phone fell back to the ground, the screen shattering again. "Oh, for the love of..." Mason said as he picked it up again.

"You're able to use magic?" Mal asked.

"No," Mason said with a completely straight face.

"I literally just saw you."

"Well...okay yes. Please don't tell anyone," Mason said, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her to the side of the hallway.

"Why? Can't a lot of the students here use magic, too?"

"You don't understand. Ever since Rumpelstiltskin almost took my brother, my mom and dad never really trusted magic users. Not even people like the fairy godmothers or Genie. So the magic ban is enforced a lot more...severely. Anyone that can use magic is kept under really close supervision and have a lot of restrictions placed on them and the way they can live their lives. If what I can do was ever common knowledge, I'd be...I'd never, ever have any sort of freedom again. I'd never, ever, ever become king and...my sister just can't handle all that pressure by herself. I don't think my parents would even be able to make an exception for me considering how it would look after they made enforcing the law such a big deal." He looked into Mal's eyes desperately as he pleaded, "Please, please don't tell anyone about this. Please."

"Don't worry, I won't," Mal said quickly. "I can kind of understand how you must feel and I promise I'd never do anything like that."

"Thank you," Mason said. "Thank you." He said again, seeming to not know how to adequately express how grateful he was. "Have you ever noticed," he started, "how much we always tell each other that we can 'understand' or 'relate to' or 'recognize' things about each other?"

"Now that you mention it, I guess we do have a lot in common," Mal said. "It's almost weird."

"I, personally, would've called it cool, but weird is okay. Sorry to get sappy, but it's nice to have someone to talk to that's...you know, not so..."

"Royal?"

"Yeah."

"I know what you mean."

"But, a word of advice." She tapped one of the golden cuffs that were on his wrists. "When you've worn ten different pairs of these, it might be a safer move to just replace the phone."

"I was going to, but I was about to win the last level of this game."

Mal chuckled.

"So, can we also keep the fact that I'm out after curfew secret, too?"

Mal pantomimed zipping her lips.

"Thanks. And, by the way, if you hear anything about the skeleton in Biology being replaced with one that dances...it totally wasn't me." When Mal just raised an eyebrow, he said, "What? That class is boring. If anything, I'm being a hero by giving everybody some entertainment."

She finally chuckled before saying, "My lips are sealed."

Mason waved before turning around. He suddenly stopped, turning around again. After whispering something, his phone-still broken on the ground during their entire conversation-repaired itself and flew into his hand. "One last time." He said with a wink before he turned and left.

Now that he was gone, Mal stood in the hallway. She started walking in the direction of her math class to get her...wait. She wasn't going to her math class. She was going...to her locker? Or was it the library?

* * *

**A Few Minutes Later**

When Carver got to his dorm, Uma was sitting on the couch in the shared living area. She flipped her braids out of her face, the gold woven into them in Millie's form clinking with the motion, and asked, "Did she fall for it?"

"Yep," Carver said. "Your turn now."

* * *

**The Next Day**

_A...a...a Zero?_  Ben thought, his eyes widening as he saw the grade on his quiz.

"Congratulations, Your Highness." The teacher said as they handed out another quiz to Millie's desk. Since he was seated right next to her, he was able to see her score.

"You got a fifteen out of ten?" Ben asked, without thinking. When he realized that he was looking over he added, "Sorry to intrude. Never mind."

"No need to apologize, it's fine," Millie said. "I asked for a quiz with more difficult questions so that I could get extra credit."

"Really?"

"Yes. I wanted more of a...challenge, I guess. My schoolwork has been a little too easy lately."

"That's...quite remarkable."

"Well, I have to be wise if I'm going to rule Aurelia one day. You understand, right?" When Ben didn't reply, she asked, "Is something wrong?"

"I think I'm having trouble with the whole wisdom thing currently."

"What's wrong?"

"I didn't get the grade I would've liked. Actually, now that I think about it, is your tutoring offer still available?"

"Of course. That sounds fun."

"Really?"

"Yes, I love tutoring. Everyone has the potential to do amazing things and, with a little nurturing, it can be brought out. It's like gardening." Millie looked down, her braids clinking like bells. "Sorry, I must sound so pathetic right now."

"Not at all. I've never seen your passionate side before," Ben touched her hand. "It's quite remarkable."

"Thank you, your majesty," Millie said.

"Does tomorrow afternoon in the library sound like a good time to start?"

"Yes. See you there, Millie. And you can call me Ben if you want."

"See you there, Ben," Millie said as she stood up and grabbed her bag before walking away.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't going to talk about this, but I saw a post somewhere where someone else also noticed it so I don't feel alone anymore. In the Good to be Bad video doesn't it seem like the posters and tv shows are propaganda for dictators? Like, it says "our liberator" and "friend to the friendless" and "BIG BROTHER." That's weird, and the premise of VK Day, and asking who your favorite VK is and Evie being the Royal Minister of Juvenile Whatever seems a little self-righteous to me, and your fate being in their hands. I know it's for safety and they want the 4 new VKs to be paired up with one of the original 4 so they can relate to them and keep an eye on them since so many of them could have evil impulses, but still any babies or toddlers on the Isle can be taken to Auradon. I had an idea for the villain in the next story after this and now I was kinda thinking of scrapping him and using someone from the Isle who sees all of this stuff with VK Day as self-righteous nonsense to feed Mal, Carlos, Jay and Evie's egos by making other VKs suck up to them to be admitted into their new territory. I mean it only makes me see things from the Isleanders (is that a new word?) perspective because the kids didn't do anything wrong but be born and after the population on the Isle doubled or tripled, there was still enough food being sent to them so Belle and Beast had to have known innocent children were being born and they just left them on the horrible prison [I get taking children from their parents would feel bad, but it would at least be for the kids' benefit (also they probably didn't do that because the people of Auradon probably wouldn't have adopted or even wanted children of villains living with them because of their own prejudice)] when their only crime was being born. The VKs don't belong on the Isle and at the rate of 4 VKs being freed per year, that's still too slow for hundreds of kids. It feels like the royals are the real villains (especially considering Mulan murdered the majority of the Hun army in her movie with the firework-avalanche and she's not on the Isle while Ursula is there for making legitimate deals and impersonation) and Belle and Beast just left this ticking bomb in Ben's lap. I kinda wanna make Wes and Uma team up and burn down and flood all of Auradon because they claim to be good, but they're just keeping their head in the sand about this whole situation. I hope Hades shows them how awful the Isle is so that they realize that they need to fix this. Anyway, 500-word rant over. Here's the chapter.

** In the Auradon Prep Library  **

"No, it was the Treaty of the Sixty Kingdoms that united all of Auradon," Millie explained. "Your father signed it with rulers and representatives from all sixty kingdoms and territories."

"Right, right," Ben said as he wrote that down.

"And where was it signed?" Millie asked. It was hard for Uma not to feel superior, even if her knowledge of the subject had come from a speedreading spell.

"I know it was supposed to be Arendelle..." Ben said as he thought it through thoroughly, "but the waters were too choppy so they signed it in Corona, at the Royal Palace. In the Room of a Thousand Rays, more specifically."

"Brilliant." Millie beamed with a smile on her face. She reached for her binder and turned a page to the blue section. "Now we can go over science. If that's okay with you, Your Majesty?"

"Of course, let's-" Ben was interrupted by his phone ringing. He answered, saying, "yes...really?...already?...no, we can't do that...isn't there another way?...well, I suppose we'll just have to try to find something else to offer...goodbye."

"What's going on?" Millie asked, looking concerned.

"Nothing, really, it's just a matter of diplomacy."

"That sounds interesting."

"You'd be one of the first people I've met to think that," Ben said with a chuckle.

"Well, politics is a strong suit of mine. If there's anything I can do, I'd love to help."

"I'm not sure this can be helped. Um...well I suppose it won't stay a secret for too much longer at this rate. London and Scotland are disputing over a bit of land between them that's currently unowned. A few months ago the King and Prime Minister got into an argument, so...I think it's a bit of a battle of..."

"Egos?"

"One could say that, yes."

"But not the king, right?" Millie asked with a knowing look. "Because you can't seem judgemental."

"Right. See? It's not really something I think you can help with."

"Don't be so sure. What if the two of them could be convinced to split the territory?"

"Normally that would be my first thought, but this seems to be personal."

"Well, what if I were able to call the King of Scotland today and get him to change his mind."

"You can do that?"

"I'm going to be the queen of the wealthiest nation in the world one day. I have no doubt that he'd be willing to listen to me, and I'm very persuasive."

"If you can, that would be amazingly helpful. But that still leaves the problem of-"

"The Prime Minister? Well, if my memory serves me correctly, Aurelia sells London more than half of the food its citizens consume. So if, say, the princess of the kingdom was to call him and let him know she was thinking of doubling the prices when she's queen, I'm sure he'd be much more reasonable."

"You would really do that?"

"Well, I obviously wouldn't  _double_  the prices, I don't want a whole nation to starve-"

"No, not that. Though I'm happy to hear I don't have to worry about anyone starving. I mean help with the two of them?"

"Of course. It's my duty to do anything I can to help Auradon. And its king."

"Well, thank you, Millie. This means a lot to me."

"It's my pleasure. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll have to end this study session a little early. I have a couple of phone calls to make."

* * *

**That Night In Uma & Carver's Dorm **

"Wait, so explain how this works again," Uma said after she'd shed Millie's form.

"I'm gonna make the King and Prime Minister think they both gained seventeen acres of land," Carver said, "and then it'll fade from Ben's memory and theirs'. There was never any disputed territory at all. But Ben is still gonna remember feeling grateful toward you."

"Right, because gratitude is so valuable," Uma said sarcastically while rolling her eyes.

"Just be patient. All that we need is time."

Uma rolled her eyes once again.

Carver's eyes glowed gold for a second.

"What was that?"

"An opportunity," Carver said, before leaving the room without another word.

* * *

**In Mal & Evie's Dorm **

"Okay, guys," Mal began when Carlos and Evie sat down on the couch in front of the television, "unfortunately Jay had a date scheduled with Lonnie tonight, so he won't be able to make it to movie night."

"On the bright side, we won't have to watch another bank heist movie tonight," Carlos said, earning a chuckle from the girls.

"True. So, what are we gonna start off with?" Mal asked. "We've got action, comedy, horror."

"Please don't put on a scary movie again. I vote for-" Evie started before her phone began ringing. She answered it and said, "Hey, Penny...oh yeah, the dress...don't you love it?...huh?...no, I didn't notice anything wrong with it...really?" She held the phone away from her so it wouldn't catch her sigh before saying, "Be right there," in a cheerful, chipper voice.

"Oh no," Mal said. "What's wrong?"

"I sewed a dress for Penelope and, apparently, the embroidery on the shoulders isn't symmetrical...it's off by a  _quarter of a millimeter_." The last few words were dripping with loathing. "This is the third time this has happened with her."

" _Wow_ ," Mal said with a laugh. "Well her mom did notice a pea under, like, a billion mattresses. Maybe it runs in the family."

"Sorry, guys, I have to go deal with this," Evie said. "I'll try to be back soon."

"No problem, " Carlos and Mal said at the same time.

Evie grabbed her handbag and sewing tote, saying, "Sorry," again before she left the room.

"Alright, Carlos, looks like you get to choose what we watch first," Mal said as she grabbed the tv remote.

"Well, I think that-" Carlos was interrupted when his phone buzzed. He looked down at the message he just received. When he set his phone down, Mal could tell exactly what the message said by the look on his face.

"Carlos?" He wouldn't even look her in her eyes. "It's fine, you can go."

"Sorry," Carlos said before leaving.

Now that she was alone in the room, Mal decided to put the movies on hold and go for a walk. After leaving the room, she decided to go to the gardens. As she was about to turn right, she noticed Mason walking past with a stack of keep cases.

"Hey, Mal," Mason said with a nod of his head as he passed.

Mal quickened her pace a little to catch him and put a hand on his shoulder. "What are those?" She asked him.

"Just a few movies I planned on watching tonight," Mason said.

"You're joking, right?" Mal asked with a smile.

"Huh? No. Why?"

"I was supposed to watch some movies with my friends, but we had to cancel because they were busy."

"That sucks. If you want, you can watch these with me."

"Sure, that sounds fun. I've got everything set up in my dorm, snacks and everything."

"Nice." As Mal turned to go back to her room, she missed Mason's eyes flashing gold for a moment as he followed her. "But we have to watch a comedy movie."

"That's perfect," Mal said, turning her head to look at him, "comedy's my favorite."

"Mine, too." He said with a smirk.


End file.
